This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/09/russian-airstrikes-accidentally-kill-three-turkish-soldiers

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Russian airstrikes accidentally kill three Turkish soldiers Russian airstrikes accidentally kill three Turkish soldiers
(35 minutes later)
Russian airstrikes have accidentally killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded 11 others in northern Syria, Turkish and Russian authorities have said. Three Turkish soldiers have been killed and 11 injured after a Russian fighter jet accidentally bombed their location outside an Islamic State-held town in northern Syria.
Turkey’s military said the incident occurred during an operation against Islamic State on Thursday. The episode highlighted the complicated battle around al-Bab, which is besieged both by Turkish-backed rebels fighting to clear the region near the Syrian border from Isis and to establish a safe zone in the area, as well as forces loyal to the regime of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, who consider the town strategically valuable.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and expressed sorrow and condolences for the accidental killing, the military added. The Turkish military said in a statement that a Russian warplane struck a building where Turkish personnel were present at 8.40am on Thursday as it was targeting Isis. It said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to express his condolences.
Both parties are investigating the incident, it said. The pair, who discussed Syria in a phone call on Thursday, have repaired ties previously strained by Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet near the border with Syria two years ago.
Last August Turkey began an unprecedented campaign inside Syria against Isis and Kurdish militia, which initially made rapid progress but has been mired in a bloody battle for the strategic town of al-Bab since December. Thursday’s incident coincided with a visit by the CIA chief, Mike Pompeo, who is on his first overseas trip as head of the US agency.
Turkey and Russia have repaired ties that were strained by Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet near the border with Syria two years ago. Pompeo, who is expected to meet Erdoğan and the Turkish intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan, is likely to discuss Syria with his counterparts in Ankara, including plans to reclaim al-Bab as well as Raqqa, the de facto Isis capital.
Turkish officials are likely to press Pompeo on scaling back support for Kurdish paramilitaries in Syria, seen by Ankara as a national security threat, but backed by the Obama administration because of their success in fighting Isis.
The incident near al-Bab came as the Turkish-backed rebels began advancing against the Isis stronghold for the first time in weeks, in an operation that has been repeatedly stalled as the rebels encountered heavy resistance.
Isis is now fighting on two fronts with forces loyal to Assad closing in from the south-west of the town – the last held by the group in the province of Aleppo.
The battle for the town has highlighted the competing geopolitical interests in Syria. Russia and Turkey have brokered a nationwide ceasefire that has only loosely held over the past month. Along with Tehran, they are they key sponsors of a fledgling peace process that began in Astana in Kazakhstan last month but has not yet brought the government and the opposition in Syria close to compromise.